“When was the last time you heard of any government or ex-government official being described as dishonorable?” The late Judge Laurence Silberman posed that question fifteen years ago, in a speech titled, simply, “On Honor.” Before an audience of law students, he reflected on the decline of “honor” as a guiding principle in our understanding […]
Welcome back to Ninth Circuit Review-Reviewed, your monthly recap of administrative law before arguably “the second most important court in the land.” Every month, in preparation for these posts, I review the Ninth Circuit’s published opinions. But when I went over last month’s opinions for this post, I found slim pickings. Thus stymied, I turned […]
Last weekend, I attended the 120th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). As usual, I had a delightful time connecting with kindred spirits who think about government institutions, how they work, and who gets to influence public policy. And I could not help but think back to those who attended the same conference in 1904. Max Weber, […]
In a Term full of hard blows to agencies, Corner Post might end up being the hardest. But administrative law allows a remedy that could avert some the decision’s worst potential effects—remand without vacatur. By holding that the default statute of limitations for an APA suit begins to run when a plaintiff is injured—and not when an […]
Join the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) on Friday, September 27 (12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET), and Wednesday, October 2 (12 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. ET), for a public forum series on nationwide injunctions. During the two panel discussions, leading legal scholars will explore discrete issues related to the issuance, impact, and […]
Like all who follow admin law or the D.C. Circuit to any degree, my colleagues here at D.C. Circuit Review have been keeping track of decisions illustrating the Circuit’s emerging approach to Loper Bright. Last week offers two more examples to consider, which were also the only two admin law decisions from the week, and […]
Welcome back to your monthly recap of the Fifth Circuit’s most recent administrative-law decisions! It was another busy month, so let’s dig in. Agencies Lose Two Additional Cases Under Loper Bright Up first: Texas Medical Association v. HHS. Argued before the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright, but decided after, Texas Medical Association involved a […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room entry is “Working with Statutes,” by Anya Bernstein and Cristina Rodríguez, which is forthcoming in the Texas Law Review. Here is the abstract: In its 2024 decision overruling the decades-old Chevron doctrine directing judges to accept an agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutory language, the Supreme Court declares: “agencies have […]
One of my go-to resources for trying to stay abreast of developments in constitutional law is the National Constitution Center and especially its podcast, We, the People. Under the inspired and able direction of Jeff Rosen, its president and CEO (and former D. C. Circuit clerk), the Center consistently produces excellent materials on the history […]
On August 26, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed the highly anticipated opening brief in the DOJ’s appeal to resurrect the high-profile classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. This case, once considered the most straightforward of the prosecutions of Trump, was unexpectedly derailed last month when Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the indictment on constitutional grounds, holding […]
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Administrative Law is pleased to announce the “New Voices in Administrative Law” program for the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting, which will be held in January in San Francisco, CA. The New Voices program gives junior administrative law scholars an opportunity to receive useful feedback on their […]
Delegation of regulatory authority from Congress to federal agencies is a foundational principle of modern government. Congress often tasks agencies to address complex problems, and lawmakers combine broad and specific terms to identify the scope of an agency’s authority in effectuating the purpose of a statute. Even when Congress is most precise, the terms in […]
The D.C. Circuit issued two decisions last week. Both offer early examples of what administrative deference and respect looks like now that courts no longer defer to agency interpretations of statutes under Chevron. In Pacific Gas & Electric Company v. FERC, the Court once again considered PG&E’s obligations to distribute (“wheel”) its competitor’s energy to […]
In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (2024), the Court overrode Chevron, relying partly on the history of judicial nondeference. That is, before Chevron, courts did not offer “deference to agency resolutions of questions of law.” Id. at 2258. Loper Bright concluded that this history of nondeference helped establish that Chevron led courts […]
The Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe is found in every administrative law case book because of its centrality to basic standards for judicial review of agency actions, including those of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Yet Overton Park rarely arises in lower court opinions. That is not surprising. The case is […]